Toria



Jan. 1, 1929. 1,697,548

F. C. WEICHELT ET AL APPARATUS FOR USE IN MANUFACTURING LEATHER STIFF-ENERS FOR THE HEELS AND TOES OF BOOTS AND SHOES Filed Dec. 16, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l 5' WHWHWH WW I g7 m Jan. 1, 1929. 1 697548 v F. C. WEICHELT ET AL v APPARATUS FOR USE IN MANUFACTURING LEATHER STIFFENERS FOR THE HEELS AND T0158 OF BOOTS AND SHOES Filed Dec. 16. 1925 2 Shuts-Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 1, 1929. v I r I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK CLAUDE WEICHELT AND PERCY SAMUEL TUENBULL. OF PRESTON, VIC- TORIA, AUSTRALIA, ASSIGNORS J3 ONE-EOUIELTH TO PATTIE ELIZABETH W EI- CHELT, OF PRESTON, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, AND ONE-FOURTH TO ROBERT HOP- PER WOODCOCK, 0F DANDENONG, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.

APPARATUS FOR USE IN MANUFACTURING LEATHER STIFFENERS FOR HEELS AND TOES OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

Application filed December 16, 1925. Serial No. 75,842.

Leather stiifeners for the heels and toes of ing from end to end of said skived portion, boots and shoes are at present manufactured and inwards through said skived portion, at from leather blanks, which, after being cut approximately right angles to the lower edge to the required shape and size, are dipped in of said skived portion. In the case of stiifwater, and subsequently passed through a eners for the heels of boots and shoes, these skiving machine to trim the lower marginal incisions extend in a horizontal line from edge of said stiifeners, to form a bevel or end to end of the lower marginal edge before feather edge. The object of damping the referred to, while, in the case of stiffeners for leather blank before skiving it is to facilithe toes of boots and shoes, they extend aptate the skiving operation and to maintain a proximately radially from end to end of the sharp edge on the skiving knife. In order lower marginal edge before referred to. to utilize said stifl'eners in the manufacture Stiffeners made according to that invention, of boots and shoes, the operator has first to only require their lower marginal edge, havsoak them in water for from ten minutes to ing the incisions therein, to be dipped in half an hour, according to the hardness of Water by the operator for from ten seconds the leather, in order to render them suflicientto not more than one minute, as before exly pliable to enable him to fit and secure such plained, the incisions permitting the water stiffeners in position on the heel and toe reto percolate freely through the skived and spectively of a boot or shoe. This operation feather edge portion of the stiffener, thereby takes time, and is even then frequently unrendering it perfectly pliable at that point. satisfactory, owing to the difiiculty of mak- The operator then takes the stiffener, whether ing said stiffeners fit snugly in position on it is to be used for the heel or toe of a boot or the heel and toe of the boot or shoe. After shoe, and bends the incised portion at right the stiifeners have been fitted as aforesaid angles, following which it can be readily bent 7 they must be allowed to dry before the makto the necessary configuration, to constitute ing of the boot or shoe can proceed, thus eneither aheel or toe stiffener, with the result t ili f rth r l f tim that a perfect seating is formed for the foun- The object of this invention is to provide dation of the boot or shoe, the incisions before an apparatus for carrying into effect an imreferred to assisting materially in eflecting so provement in such stifi'eners and which imthis result. It will be obvious that stiffeners provement forms the subject of an applica embodying the improvement before de tion for Letters Patent filed by us contemscribed, can be made of much stouter mateporaneously herewith. Stiifeners embodyrial than is possible at present, thus renden ing that improvement only require their ing the bootor shoe to which they are aps5 lower portion to be dipped in water for from plied more durable. As practically only the ten seconds to not more than one minute, acfeather edge portion in which the incisions cording to the hardness of the leather, instead are made is wetted, the stiffener soon dries of the whole being soaked in water for ten and little delay occurs in the manufacture minutes to half an hour, as at present, before of the boot or shoe. they can be utilized by th operator, and The incisions in. the stiffeners may be made which, when removed by him from the water, in any pproved manner, but we prefer to can be easil and qui kl pli d t th h l make them with the aid of the apparatus and toe of a boot or shoe, and which, when aphereinafter described, and illustrated. plied, will fit snugly in position without dif- Referring to the. drawings hereto atficulty, and dry quickly. tached r The said improvement in leather stiifeners Fig. 1 is a view in plan of a leather blank of the type described for the heels and toes usually employed for the manufacture of a of boots and shoes consists of a series of stiffener for the heel portion ofaboot or shoe. equally-spaced incisions through the skin or Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on lines .outer surface of the stiffener at its lower a-a of Fig, 1.

marginal skived edge, said incisions extend- Fig. 3 is a view in plan of the leather .boot or shoe.

Fig. 6 is aview in plan of the stiffener bent orshaped for fitting to the last about the heel orseat portion.

Fig. 7 is a View in plan of a leather blank to form a 'stifi'ener for the toe of a boot or shoe.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on line cc of Fig. 7.

' Fig. 9 is a view in plan of the toe stiffener, showing the equally-spaced and approximately radially arranged incisions therein.

Fig. .10, is a sectional view taken on. line cZcZ of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a view in side elevation of the apparatuswe have invented, and prefer to use for making the incisions in the heel and toe stifieners illustrated in Figs. 3 and 9 respectively.

Fig. '12 is a view in plan of Fig. 11.

' Fig. 13'is a View in front elevation of the apparatus, showing the arrangement of the feed plate and the cutting and feed rollers.

Fig. 14 is a sectional View illustrating the means employed for adjusting the position of the lower located feed roller.

Fig. 15 is a View in side elevation of the feed roller employed to feed the heel stifleners illustrated in Fig. 3 to the apparatus, in order that the necessary incisions may be made therein.

Fig. 16 is a View in side elevation of a feed roller having a'bevel edge to make the necessary radial incisions in the toe stiffener illustrated in Fig. .9.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 6, 1 is the leather blank. which, after being out in the ordinary manner to the required shape and size to form a stiffener for the heel or toe of a boot or shoe, is subsequently passed, as at present,

through a skiving machine in order to effectively trim the lower marginal edge of said blank to form a bevel or feather edge 2. For this purpose, as already explained, the leather blanks, as is customary, are dipped into Wated, so as to facilitate th skiving operation and to maintain a sharp edge on the skiving blades or cutters. 8 are the series of equally spaced incisions in leather stilfeners for boots and shoes, and which incisions are formed in the blank 1 after it has been cut to the required shape and size. These incisions are preferably made with the aid of the apparatus illustrated in Figures 11 to 16, and extend through the skin or outer surface of the blank, and, as previously explained, extend in ardly from its lower marginal edge and at right angles thereto. Said. lower edge portion, having the indentations 3. is dipped into water, which, by reason of the incisions 8 quicl'ly pcrcolates through the skircd and feather edge portion, and renders the same pliable, following which, it can be readily bent to the configuration shown in Fig. (3. lo enable it to be fitted about the heel of the last.

It will be understood that the manufacture of the stiffener at for the toe of a boot or shoe is carried out in the manner her '11 described, with reference to the manufacture of the heel stiffener 1, and therefore does not require further description.

The apparatus for forming the indentations or incisions 3 in the heel and toe stitl'cners 1 and 1, comprises a cast metal base 5 on which is formed or secured a pair of integrally formed bracket members 6, on the upper ends of which is formed comparatively long hearing boss 7 in which is revolubly mounted a main driving shaft 8. Fitted on the outer end of the main driving shaft 8 a fast pulley 9 and loose pulleys 9 to receive a power transmission belt (not shown) from any suitable power source. A toothed wheel 10 fitted on the outer end portion of the main driving shaft 8 meshes with a similar wheel 11 that is keyed or otherwise fitted on the outer cud portion of a lower located shaft 172 which is revolubly supported in an elongated boss 13 formed on the outer end of a bracket 14;. This bracket is pivotally carried on a pin 15. rigidly secured by set-screw 16, in bosses 17 that are formed on the brackets 6. Dctachahly tted on the forward end of the main shaft 8 is a cutting wheel 18 having shupcd teeth 19 adapted to form the incisions 3 in the stilleners 1 and 4 in the manner hereinafter described. The shaft 12 is located in vertical central alignment with the main shaft 8. and detachably fitted on the forward end of said shaft 12 is a feed roller 20 which is adapted to feed the stiffener blank under the cutting wheel 18 and also function as a presser roller. The width of the space between the cutting wheel 18 and the feed roller 20 requires adjusting to suit the varying thickness of the stiifeners that are being manufactured. For this purpose the gear wheels 10 and 11 have comparatively long teeth to provide for adjustment within certain limits. The width of the space between the cutting. wheel 18 and the roller 20 is regulated by means of adjustment screws 21, which are screwed into the base portion 5 of the apparatus and adapted to bear against lugs 22 depending from the bracket 14, on which is formed the elongated boss 13 carrying the shaft 12. The adjustment screws 21 are fitted with lock nuts 23,

adapted to be tightened against the base 5, so as to prevent accident-a1 movement of said screws. To prevent any upward movement of the bracket 14 when the feed roller has been set to the required position, an adjusting screw 24 is screwed through a lug 25 formed on the bearing boss 7 which revolubly supports the main shaft 8. This adjusting screw 24 is adapted to bear upon a lug 26 formed on the elongated boss 13 and thus prevent any accidental upward movement of the feed roller 20 during working operations. A guide plate 27 is fastened on the outer end of a short rod 28 which is adj ustably fitted in a split lug 29 formed on one of the bracket members 6 and is rigidly held in position therein by a clamping bolt 30. This guide plate extends transversely across the apparatus and it passes behind the cutting wheel 18 and forms a limit stop for the stiffeners as they are being passed through said apparatus. A feed table 31 is adjust-ably fitted to the front of the guide plate 27 to support the leather stiifeners as they are being successively fed into the apparatus. This feed table is capable of vertical adjustment to suit the varying thickness of stiifeners required for the manufacture of different classes of foot-wear. For this purpose, the feed table 31 is secured in position to the guide plate 27 by screws 32 passing through slots 33 formed in said feed table. A curved plate 34 forming a safety guard is fitted to the apparatus to prevent an operator having his fingers injured whilst feeding the stiifeners between the rollers 18 and 20, while pin 35 is also fitted to the guide plate 27 as a further means of preventing injury to the operator.

As seen in Fig. 15, a feed roller 20 having a plain surface, isemployed for feeding the heel stiffeners 1 under the cutting roller 18; but, by reason of the toe stiffener having the indentations or incisions 3 formed approximately radial, it is necessary to provide a feed roller 20 having a bevelled surface as seen in Figs. 11 and 16.

In the operation of forming the indentations or incisions 3, in the heel stiffener 1, the roller 20 having a perfectly flat surface, is fitted on the end of the shaft 12. The stiffener 1 is placed on the feed table 31 with its straight edge in abutment with the guide plate 27. The stiffener is then pushed forward until it is gripped between the cutting roller 18 and the feed roller 20, when the rotary motion of said rollers will automatically. carry the stiffener through the apparatus and cause the incisions 3 to be made through the skin or outer surface of the stifiener approximately at right angles to the lower marginal or straight edge of the same.

In forming the incisions about the lower or curved marginal edge of the toe stiffener, the bevel edge feed roller 20 (Fig. 16), is substituted for the roller 20, and the curved edge of the stiffener is maintained in contact with the guide plate by the operator, until the whole of the incisions 3 have been formed, and approximately radial, as illustrated in Fig. 10 of the drawings.

We claim:

In an apparatus for making incisions in stiifeners for boots and shoes, a main driving shaft, a counter shaft, a toothed wheel on one end of said shaft, said Wheel meshing with a similar wheel on said counter shaft, a cutting wheel having V-shaped teeth detachably fitted on said main driving shaft, a feed roller detachably fitted on said counter shaft, said feed roller functioning also as a presser roller, means for imparting motion to said cutting wheel and feed roller, a guide plate disposed adjacent said cutting Wheel, and a feed tab-1e secured to said guide plate and being capable of vertical adjustment.

FREDERICK CLAUDE WEICHELT. PERCY SAMUEL TURNBULL. 

